Barry White at Australia's IFC

摘要

The International Fibre Centre (IFC) is now the only organisation in Australia supporting training programmes specifically for the domestic fibre and textile industries. Established in 1998 by the Victorian State Government and based at Deakin University's Geelong Campus, close to CSIRO's Division of Textile and Fibre Technology, IFC has recently undergone major restructuring to respond to industry needs for a wider range of programmes and more flexible delivery. When first established, IFC was equipped with an extensive range of processing equipment, much of which was purchased from IWS at Ilkley, UK. However, it became clear that such facilities were being underutilised and did not match the downsizing, restructuring, and training needs of Australia's textile manufacturing sector. In addition, other activities such as product development were duplicating similar programmes at CSIRO.